


Crawling Along The Hours To You

by AetherAria



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Lizard Kissin' Tuesday (Penumbra Podcast), Multi, Pining, Second Citadel (Penumbra Podcast), Temporary Separation, canon typical Arum ignoring feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 16:27:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19749436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AetherAria/pseuds/AetherAria
Summary: Rilla is quite possibly the most skilled doctor in the Second Citadel. Sometimes, this means she must go fairly far afield to do her work, and Lord Arum and Sir Damien are left to await her return.





	Crawling Along The Hours To You

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote literally all of this today. This was NOT what I planned to post today initially, but the idea invaded my brain (whY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING). Hope you enjoy? Love y'all! 
> 
> Title from Waiting Around Again by Eliza Rickman.

Arum creeps into the bedroom, the claws of his toes clicking softly on the wooden floor of Rilla’s hut, and slinks towards the bed with a deep sigh, his shoulders hunched and his head low.

When his fingers meet the edge of the sheets, Arum only just has time to notice the unexpected shape in the bed before Damien jolts awake with a sharp inhale, sitting halfway upright and blinking furiously against the dark, and Arum leaps a full foot backwards in surprise.

“H-honeysuckle?” Arum growls against his own embarrassment, claws flexing in the air. “I thought- I thought you were staying at the barracks-”

Damien’s startled breaths ease into a relieved exhale when he recognizes Arum, and he runs a hand through his sleep-mussed hair, mussing it further. “I… Lord Arum, I was not expecting… what are you doing here?”

Arum’s tail curls behind him, slithering anxious, and his tongue flicks as he avoids Damien’s puzzled gaze. “I…” his jaw snaps shut a few times, teeth clicking. “I believe I asked first, _takatakataka_ ,” he deflects, folding his arms over his chest.

Damien pulls his knees closer to his chest as he sits on the bed, and his breath catches oddly. “It’s- I am being- I’m afraid I am acting rather foolishly,” he says with a distinct waver in his voice. “I couldn’t- I couldn’t stand the thought of another night there, another night in a cot that I have never shared with any that I love, another night alone-”

Arum’s body sways towards the knight automatically, the urge to comfort him stronger than his own embarrassment by far, his mortification at being caught eased, somewhat, by the knowledge that Damien is yearning for Amaryllis as much as Arum himself is. The most egregious downside of Amaryllis’ brilliant mind is that she is so often needed by the rest of her soft-headed species, and an outbreak of some magical illness or another in a town near the border of the Second Citadel has resulted in her being called away for nearly three weeks, now.

(”I don’t care about doing a favor for the _Queen_ ,” she says with a roll of the eyes as she packs her bags, putting extra care into the arrangement of her tinctures and salves, “but a _lot_ of people are sick, and I know damn well I can help them. I know it’s not exactly _ideal_ , Arum, but it’s my _job_ -)

Arum blinks to clear his mind, then slinks towards the bed, kneeling when he is close so that his eyes are level with Damien’s. This puts him within Damien's reach, though he keeps his claws to himself for now. “And- and why did you not come through to the Keep then, if you felt… if you did not wish to be alone?” Arum asks, soft.

“I did not want to trouble you,” Damien says, dropping his eyes. “I know full well that I can be… overwhelming when my emotions run high, and I have been missing our lovely Rilla quite…” his lip trembles, just barely, and Arum can see a brightness in his eyes even in the dark. “Quite terribly,” he finishes in a whisper. “I’m afraid I have been driving my fellow knights nearly mad with my longing, and I did not wish to bring that home to you. I did not want to be a bother.”

“So you decided to come curl up alone and miserable somewhere that she could not possibly leave your mind instead?” Arum asks, incredulous, and the words are already out before he realizes-

“It seems we had similar instincts on that front,” Damien points out, his lip curling into a playful smile as he reaches forward to brush his fingers along Arum’s shoulder and then down his arm. “It is probably better, this way. Missing her together instead of missing her alone.”

Arum growls low again, but there is no sense in denying the truth of Damien’s words. The Keep has been unbearably quiet without Rilla ducking in and out throughout the day, borrowing supplies and asking questions and bullying him into taking regular meals, and his nights have been twice as maddening, since Damien’s early mornings with his fellow knights have made it difficult for him to overnight at the Keep with any regularity as of late, leaving Arum to sleep alone. It has been far too reminiscent of the past for Arum’s comfort, too similar to how his life had been before. When he slipped into his own bedroom tonight and realized he could no longer catch Amaryllis’ scent on the air it had snapped his willpower in two, and the Keep had not even teased when it opened the portal to Amaryllis’ home for him.

He sighs, then climbs up onto the bed, pushing Damien back and slipping under the covers beside him until he can drape his entire body along the furnace-heat of Damien’s skin. The bed here still smells of Amaryllis, subtle and sweet, herbs and flowers and the soft soaps she uses for her hair, and alongside the brighter, more urgent scent of Damien’s skin (linen and feathers and the permanent stain of ink on his fingers), Arum finally feels steady again. He feels as if Amaryllis could be just a room over, working late, soon to join them.

“You are… probably correct,” Arum admits, only when he can breathe the words into Damien’s hair instead of the open air of the room. “I could not possibly leave you alone now anyway, honeysuckle. Entirely unacceptable, you wallowing in loneliness when I could so easily keep you in my clutches instead.”

Damien laughs softly, his fingers dancing light down the scales of Arum’s back. “I will need to wake early to return to the Citadel in time tomorrow,” he warns. “I would not blame you if you would rather-”

“I ‘would rather’ take what moments I can with you, honeysuckle,” Arum growls, and then he sighs, nuzzling against Damien’s cheek. “And… and I would rather not be alone, either. The pair of you have caused me to grow _far_ too dependent on your presence, you unscrupulous creatures.”

Damien hugs him closer, knowing Arum’s grumbled complaint for the quiet admission of love that it is. “It won’t be long until she returns to us,” he says softly, as much to assuage his own longing as to comfort Arum. “The Queen assures me that the crisis is almost entirely averted, and Rilla is staying merely to ensure that her treatments will last. We must… we must simply be patient, and she will return in no time at all.”

Arum has never been particularly adept at being patient. He growls, twining his tail around Damien’s leg, as if it is at all possible to draw him closer. “Of course,” he hisses, unconvincing and unconvinced.

Damien pauses, and after a moment presses a kiss to the crook of Arum’s neck, by the edge of his frill, and then tucks his head against Arum’s shoulder as if he were always meant to fit there. “I hadn’t realized…” he pauses again. “I have… I have endured Rilla’s absences before, as her skills have always been in high demand. I hadn’t considered that this is the first time since we… since _us_ , that she has been called away.”

Arum grumbles under his breath, nothing that quite approaches actual words.

“It is… I am glad you are here with me now,” Damien says softly, his lips still brushing Arum’s scales. “It is easier… the pain of absence is lessened when we may commiserate and comfort each other in turn. When there are still arms to return to, still a heartbeat and steady breaths with which to lull each other to sleep.”

Arum does not like the thought of Damien alone in Amaryllis’ absence, truly alone, before the three of them. Damien alone seems like an unnatural state of affairs. And… Damien is right, about the lulling. Damien’s hands, Damien’s heart, Damien’s heat; Arum can feel it drawing sleep towards him like a tide, here in the safety of Amaryllis’ room. He knows he cannot match Damien’s words, though, and he does not try. Instead he simply draws his own hands as soothingly as he can across Damien’s skin, through his hair, down his back, purring low and deep.

“Sleep you should, honeysuckle,” he murmurs. “Go back to sleep, and when we wake together, we shall be one day closer to when she will return to us.”

Arum can feel the curve of Damien’s smile against his scales, and the sweetness of the creature in his arms could drown Arum if he let it. He nuzzles against Damien’s hair, nudges his snout against his temple in an almost-kiss, and settles to rest in the comfort of his arms.

Some sunrise soon, Amaryllis will come home. In the meantime, they can endure if they endure together, for a little while longer at least.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is now blessed with fanart (OH MY GOSH) by @spinningstraw on tumblr! You can find the art here:
> 
> [https://spinningstraw.tumblr.com/post/186274224238/arum-and-damien-pining-together-in-rillas-bed]
> 
> Also, I wrote a sequel/epilogue to this fic here:
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/20040289/chapters/47724220

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Crawling Along the Hours to You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20516693) by [Moxy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moxy/pseuds/Moxy)




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